The C.A.M. Report
Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Fair, Balanced, and to the Point
  • About this web log

    This blog ran from 2006 to 2016 and was intended as an objective and dispassionate source of information on the latest CAM research. Since my background is in pharmacy and allopathic medicine, I view all CAM as advancing through the development pipeline to eventually become integrated into mainstream medical practice. Some will succeed while others fail. But all are treated fairly here.

  • About the author

    John Russo, Jr., PharmD, is president of The MedCom Resource, Inc. Previously, he was senior vice president of medical communications at www.Vicus.com, a complementary and alternative medicine website.

  • Common sense considerations

    The material on this weblog is for informational purposes. It is not medical advice or counsel. Be smart, consult your health professional before using CAM.

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    Acupuncture to treat plantar fasciitis

    acupunctureManIt’s a common cause of heel pain.

    Researchers from Hong Kong Baptist University report benefit with acupuncture.

    First, the details.

    • 53 people were randomly assigned to a treatment group.
      • Needling at the acupoint PC 7: Purported to have a specific effect for heel pain.
      • Needling at the acupoint Hegu (LI 4): Has analgesic properties and served here as the control group.
    • Treatment was an identical method of manual needling applied to the two acupoints 5 times a week for 2 weeks.

    And, the results.

    • There were significant differences in reduction in pain scores, favoring acupoint PC 7 at 1 month for morning pain, overall pain, and pressure pain threshold.
    • No serious side effects were observed in either group.

    The bottom line?
    The authors concluded, “Acupuncture can provide pain relief to patient[s] with plantar fasciitis, and… PC 7 is a relatively specific acupoint for heel pain.”

    More on plantar fasciitis and electroacupuncture treatment can be found here.

    11/27/09 22:50 JR

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